--- title: "Roy Kalman Altman | KnowJudges" canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/roy-kalman-altman" page_type: "judge_profile" updated: "2026-10-09" --- # Roy Kalman Altman U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida · U.S. District Judge ## Profile - Court: U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida - State: Florida - Role: U.S. District Judge - Service status: active - Last verified: 2026-07-25 ## Summary Official statewide and applicable court procedural guidance applies to this judge. ## Biography ### Professional career - Judge, District Court, S.D. Florida, 2019-present - Venezuelan‐American jurist serving as a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, appointed in 2019 at age 36 — the youngest federal district court judge in the country at the time - He then worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Florida (2008–2014), rising to deputy chief of the Special Prosecutions Section and leading programs on violent crime and gang activity - Altman held the role of a law clerk to Judge Stanley Marcus on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (2007–2008) - At his appointment, he was 36 years old, making him the youngest federal district judge in the nation - He succeeded Judge Joan A. Lenard and became the youngest federal district court judge in the U.S. and the youngest in the Southern District of Florida ### Education - Yale University — J.D. (2007) - He graduated from Columbia University in 2004, earning a B.A., and from Yale Law School in 2007, where he was projects editor of the Yale Law Journal. - Columbia University in the City of New York — B.A. (2004) ### Additional information - received his judicial commission on April 9, 2019. - Private practice, Miami, FL, 2014-2019 - From 2014 to 2019, he practiced law in Miami - director, Violent Repeat Offender Program, 2013-2014 - coordinator, Violent Crime and Anti-Gang Program, 2013-2014 - coordinator, Violence Reduction Partnership, 2011-2014 - He received multiple awards for prosecutorial excellence, including “Federal Prosecutor of the Year” in 2013. - Born in 1982 in Caracas, Venezuela, Altman is of Jewish heritage, with family roots in Eastern Europe, Poland, and Mexico. - Date of birth: 1982-01-01 - focusing on cases involving aviation disasters and financial fraud - He also played quarterback and pitched for the baseball team at Columbia, earning All‐Ivy honors - Birth place: Caracas, Venezuela ## Before you appear - Read the judge-specific standing order first when one is listed. - Check the docket and case orders for requirements that supersede broader guidance. - Confirm current remote-access and courtroom technology arrangements before the proceeding. ## Courtroom Rules ### electronic trial exhibits Scope: courtwide Unless otherwise ordered, Southern District of Florida parties must file electronic versions of documentary exhibits and digital photographs of non-documentary physical exhibits within ten days after a hearing or trial ends. Evidence excerpt: Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, within ten (10) days of the conclusion of a hearing or trial, a party must file and serve in the CM/ECF system (a) an electronic version of each documentary exhibit ... and (b) a digital photograph of each non-documentary physical exhibit... [Local Rules of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida](https://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/sites/flsd/files/25-09-22%202025%20Local%20Rules%20effective%20120125%20-%20FINAL.pdf) Source checked: 2026-07-26 ### audiovisual exhibit filing Scope: courtwide The Southern District of Florida's local rules require contraband images, audio, and video recordings that are exempt from CM/ECF filing to be physically filed with the Clerk within ten days after the hearing or trial, unless otherwise ordered. Evidence excerpt: Contraband images, audio recordings, and video recordings, which must be physically filed with the Clerk of the Court within ten (10) days of the conclusion of the hearing or trial, unless otherwise ordered... [Local Rules of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida](https://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/sites/flsd/files/25-09-22%202025%20Local%20Rules%20effective%20120125%20-%20FINAL.pdf) Source checked: 2026-07-26 ### civil remote testimony Scope: courtwide In federal district-court civil proceedings, testimony is ordinarily taken in open court; remote contemporaneous testimony requires good cause in compelling circumstances and appropriate safeguards. Evidence excerpt: For good cause in compelling circumstances and with appropriate safeguards, the court may permit testimony in open court by contemporaneous transmission from a different location. [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a), Testimony in Open Court](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-civil-procedure) Source checked: 2026-07-26 ### criminal recording and broadcasting Scope: courtwide Federal district courts may not permit courtroom photography or broadcasting during criminal judicial proceedings unless a statute or another federal rule provides an exception. Evidence excerpt: Except as otherwise provided by a statute or these rules, the court must not permit the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings or the broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom. [Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53, Courtroom Photographing and Broadcasting Prohibited](https://www.uscourts.gov/court-records/access-court-proceedings/remote-public-access-proceedings/history-cameras-broadcasting-and-remote-public-access-courts) Source checked: 2026-07-26 ## Sources - [Official profile](https://www.fjc.gov/node/6244926) - [Official roster](https://www.fjc.gov/node/6244926) - [Federal Judicial Center biography](https://www.fjc.gov/node/6244926) - [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/8660/roy-kalman-altman/) - [Local Rules of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida](https://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/sites/flsd/files/25-09-22%202025%20Local%20Rules%20effective%20120125%20-%20FINAL.pdf) - [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a), Testimony in Open Court](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-civil-procedure) - [Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53, Courtroom Photographing and Broadcasting Prohibited](https://www.uscourts.gov/court-records/access-court-proceedings/remote-public-access-proceedings/history-cameras-broadcasting-and-remote-public-access-courts) - [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/8660/roy-kalman-altman/) ## JSON-LD ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/roy-kalman-altman", "url": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/roy-kalman-altman", "name": "Roy Kalman Altman | KnowJudges", "description": "Roy Kalman Altman, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. 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Section-specific exceptions, waivers, later amendments and case orders remain applicable. This is a source excerpt, not an exhaustive statement of the rule. [Official source](https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/federal-rules-of-civil-procedure.pdf). Collected 2026-10-27. - [Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, December 1, 2025](https://knowjudges.com/courtroom-rules/national-shared-set-8721a344fececced2257fe1d) — Criminal proceedings in United States District Courts; this conservative mapping does not distribute appellate-specific provisions to appellate judges. Section-specific exceptions, waivers, later amendments and case orders remain applicable. This is a source excerpt, not an exhaustive statement of the rule. [Official source](https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/federal-rules-of-criminal-procedure.pdf). Collected 2026-10-27.